This is the first lesson in the unit and serves as an introduction of the topic of earthquakes to students. Catastrophic events often immediately captivate the interests of students, so in this lesson students will have the opportunity of seeing how devastating earthquakes can really be and how it can affect so many lives. Students will first recall their prior knowledge on the topic by creating a prior knowledge list as a class. This gives the students an opportunity to think back to what they already know about earthquakes, gives the teacher an opportunity to see where their knowledge is starting from on the topic, as well as providing a measuring stick that can be used at the end of the unit showing student growth on the topic. Students will then watch a short NOVA video on earthquakes in Kobe, Japan and California. The two earthquakes were of similar intensity/magnitude, and it gives students the opportunity both to see the devastation of both life and property these earthquakes caused, as well as thinking about reasons one caused more damage than the other. This helps build a foundation for students that they can recall these visuals when later talking about ways of minimizing the effects of earthquakes, the motion earthquake waves cause on the surface, and means of recording these earthquakes. Lastly, we'll begin covering some new material on the topic introducing what earthquakes are, the main components, as well as having a brief class discussion on the video and students reactions to it.
Opportunities to Learn:
Depth of Knowledge
Webbs Depths of Knowledge
Level 1: Recall and Reproduction
Students will have the opportunity to recall and recognize terms and definitions involving what an earthquake is and the components that make them up.
Level 2: Skills and Concepts
Students will have the opportunity to make observations of the NOVA video comparing the precautions both cities took towards minimizing the devastation of earthquakes prior to it as well as making observations as to why one might have caused more damage than the other.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Students need no prerequisite knowledge for this lesson. This is the first lesson in the unit and mainly will serve as an introduction to the topic. Students will learn the basics aspects of earthquakes and create a prior knowledge list providing a visual example of the students prior knowledge on the topic before it is taught. As stated before, this lesson serves as building a foundation for students allowing them to recall images from this video to help solidify their understanding of concepts we'll later cover such as movement of earthquake waves, means of recording them, and ways of minimizing the devastation of earthquakes.
Environmental factors
When showing a video, it's important to think of how motivated students will be when viewing it. If the video seems boring, or if students aren't able to make connections with what they are learning then they can quickly lose interest and may begin to do other work or even put their head down not paying attention to the video at all. To make sure students stay on task, I'll periodically stop the video and we'll have a brief minute or two discussion highlighting any interesting things and making comparisons to the two cities covered in the video. The video shows some pretty interesting footage showing the devastation of these earthquakes, so I'm sure the students will be interested to see and hear how these people coped with the damage.
Materials
2 large 2' by 1' poster/pieces of paper
Markers
Youtube clip
Objectives:
Students will be able to recall their prior knowledge of earthquakes Students will be able to identify the main components of an earthquake Students will be able to explain reasons for earthquake devastation
Instruction:
Opening:
Video clip
This 47 second clip will be shown to start off the lesson, showing students video footage of earthquakes that happened unexpectedly. This video should captivate the interests of these young students and give them a taste of how destructive earthquakes can be.
Prior Knowledge List
Begin the lesson by asking students to create a list of their prior knowledge of earthquakes. I will ask students to break the list up into 4 categories: causes of earthquakes, effects of earthquakes, risks that people might face during and after earthquakes and ways to prevent these risks. Each student will be required to hand in their own list, and at this time is not allowed to work with other students. Students will be given 10 minutes to complete this list. During instruction, I'll be sure to let the students know that none of their answers will be graded, and that they can guess what they think the answers are.
Engagement:
NOVA video
The students will watch a 10-15 minute video called "The Day the Earth Shook" In the video students will have a chance to see the destruction these earthquakes caused along with footage of the earthquake as it occurred. The video discusses the events of 2 earthquakes, California in 1989 and Kobe, Japan in 1995. During the video, students will be asked to observe what effects the earthquake had, how the ground appeared to move, and why they thought more people may have died in Japan than in California. We'll
Prior Knowledge List (continued)
As a class, we will then create a list on 2' by 1' papers showing the prior knowledge students had on these topics. 2 papers will be made, one containing the causes and effects of earthquakes, while the other contains the potential risks and solutions to these risks. Students will raise their hands, sharing their thoughts and beliefs on what they believe to be true. Whether right or wrong, all students answers will be written on these sheets as this is only prior student beliefs and they are not expected to know the correct responses at this point. Its good to use this part as a class discussion because one student's response may help stimulate another students idea to share. Students will lastly be asked to share any questions they have about earthquakes, for example "what causes them", or "where they occur". This list will be put up on the wall for the remainder of the unit, and at the end we'll go back and add a new sheet where students will share what they learned and answers to the questions they had.
New Material
We'll begin some new material for the remainder of class. Using the smartboard to provide visual diagrams that correspond with the material, we'll have a short lecture where we'll discuss what earthquakes are, what seismic waves are, and introduce what the focus and epicenter are. These notes will touch the surface on the topic, allowing students to learn what earthquakes are and identify the different parts of an earthquake.
Because students aren't allowed to bring their books home, during the discussion on new material as a class we'll spend a short time reading segments from the book that I believe will be important to understanding the concepts. These readings will be mixed into the discussion, having students read a paragraph explaining a new concept and then stopping to take the notes that correspond with them. In all, only about a page and a half of material will be read and the majority of the new material will be presented as notes on the smart board.
Closure:
We'll have a short closing allowing the students a few minutes to share things students had learned in the day. We'll highlight "what is the difference between the epicenter and focus" and "what is an earthquake". We'll also refer back to the video and discuss what they saw in the video and the differences between the Kobe and California earthquakes
Lastly, we'll go over the homework for tonight and I'll tell the students that in the next class we'll be using slinkys to experiment with the motion of seismic waves.
Homework
Students will be given a vocabulary sheet that involves the vocabulary that will be used in the unit. Students will be asked to write the definitions for the first 5, along with writing 3-5 sentences explaining what they learned from the video. The first 5 vocabulary words pertain to the new material covered today, along with a couple that will be discussed in the next class. I've found that vocabulary is one of the most important aspects of learning science. Without it fully grasping the definitions, students easily have misconceptions of concepts and will have difficulty connecting what they are doing in activities with the material being covered in class.
Assessment:
The prior knowledge list is mainly for both the students to stimulate their prior knowledge and for teachers to become aware of what concepts their students already understand and what misconceptions they may have before discussing the topic. The benefit of having each student hand in their own prior knowledge list helps to give the teacher an opportunity to pinpoint the exact concepts a student may have misconceptions with. The short paragraph will be collected at the beginning of class and the vocabulary sheet will be checked as students answer the "Question of the Day" in the next class.
Lesson Plan
Lesson Title: Thinking About Earthquakes
Context of Lesson:
This is the first lesson in the unit and serves as an introduction of the topic of earthquakes to students. Catastrophic events often immediately captivate the interests of students, so in this lesson students will have the opportunity of seeing how devastating earthquakes can really be and how it can affect so many lives. Students will first recall their prior knowledge on the topic by creating a prior knowledge list as a class. This gives the students an opportunity to think back to what they already know about earthquakes, gives the teacher an opportunity to see where their knowledge is starting from on the topic, as well as providing a measuring stick that can be used at the end of the unit showing student growth on the topic. Students will then watch a short NOVA video on earthquakes in Kobe, Japan and California. The two earthquakes were of similar intensity/magnitude, and it gives students the opportunity both to see the devastation of both life and property these earthquakes caused, as well as thinking about reasons one caused more damage than the other. This helps build a foundation for students that they can recall these visuals when later talking about ways of minimizing the effects of earthquakes, the motion earthquake waves cause on the surface, and means of recording these earthquakes. Lastly, we'll begin covering some new material on the topic introducing what earthquakes are, the main components, as well as having a brief class discussion on the video and students reactions to it.Opportunities to Learn:
Depth of Knowledge
Webbs Depths of KnowledgeLevel 1: Recall and Reproduction
- Students will have the opportunity to recall and recognize terms and definitions involving what an earthquake is and the components that make them up.
Level 2: Skills and ConceptsPrerequisite Knowledge
Students need no prerequisite knowledge for this lesson. This is the first lesson in the unit and mainly will serve as an introduction to the topic. Students will learn the basics aspects of earthquakes and create a prior knowledge list providing a visual example of the students prior knowledge on the topic before it is taught. As stated before, this lesson serves as building a foundation for students allowing them to recall images from this video to help solidify their understanding of concepts we'll later cover such as movement of earthquake waves, means of recording them, and ways of minimizing the devastation of earthquakes.Environmental factors
When showing a video, it's important to think of how motivated students will be when viewing it. If the video seems boring, or if students aren't able to make connections with what they are learning then they can quickly lose interest and may begin to do other work or even put their head down not paying attention to the video at all. To make sure students stay on task, I'll periodically stop the video and we'll have a brief minute or two discussion highlighting any interesting things and making comparisons to the two cities covered in the video. The video shows some pretty interesting footage showing the devastation of these earthquakes, so I'm sure the students will be interested to see and hear how these people coped with the damage.Materials
2 large 2' by 1' poster/pieces of paperMarkers
Youtube clip
Objectives:
Students will be able to recall their prior knowledge of earthquakesStudents will be able to identify the main components of an earthquake
Students will be able to explain reasons for earthquake devastation
Instruction:
Opening:
Engagement:
Closure:
Assessment:
The prior knowledge list is mainly for both the students to stimulate their prior knowledge and for teachers to become aware of what concepts their students already understand and what misconceptions they may have before discussing the topic. The benefit of having each student hand in their own prior knowledge list helps to give the teacher an opportunity to pinpoint the exact concepts a student may have misconceptions with. The short paragraph will be collected at the beginning of class and the vocabulary sheet will be checked as students answer the "Question of the Day" in the next class.Reflections
(only done after lesson is enacted)Student Work Sample 1 – Approaching Proficiency:
Student Work Sample 2 – Proficient:
Student Work Sample 3 – Exceeds Proficiency: